The Handmaids Tale And The Crucible - 1695 Words

Is Resistance Futile? What do The Handmaid’s Tale and The Crucible suggest about the nature of resisting and rebelling against social order? Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Arthur Miller’s ,The Crucible, explore the consequences surrounding the nature of resisting and rebelling against social order. Resistance the refusal to accept or comply with something or to actively and passively fight against something. Atwood’s new government of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale enforces unthinkable oppression to eradicate any trace of resistance from its citizens. Hysteria is implemented in Miller’s Salem in The Crucible when characters are manipulated and driven to conform to social order to save their own lives. However even beyond the†¦show more content†¦Janine. Dolores. Moira. June.†. Despite being forbidden from speaking or even using their real names, they manage to preserve this important part of their identities. By confronting her past and present through her memories, she is also constructing potential acts of resistance. This can be addressed when Offred declares, â€Å"I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do,† Offred ensures her survival and strengthens her sense of self, recognizing herself as an individual. Atwood actively publicizes Offred’s private rebellion against Gilead’s method of deindividuation displays the power of resistance in maintaining individual identity. In comparison, Mary Warren from The Crucible is unlike Offred as she loses her sense of self when she stopped resisting and conformed to avoid conflict. Miller portrays Mary Warren as an easily manipulated, irresolute and â€Å"powerless† girl in the play. To feel protected, she resists and rebels against powerful figures but when overwhelmed by the odds she succumbs to the most common ground. Mary even acknowledges to Abigail Williams, â€Å"I – have no power!† admitting her loss of influence and security. She is unable to stand up for her moral convictions when pressured and was even able to be tak en advantage of by Abigail. On the other hand, Miller conveys the importance of identity through John Proctor. In the play, Proctor’s inability to submit is driven in virtue of individual identity, seen when he proclaimsShow MoreRelatedThe Crucible And The Handmaids Tale Analysis1176 Words   |  5 PagesIn the books The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood truth is large concept. Throughout the books truth is used to define the perception and the reality through key symbols that go above and beyond an object. In The Crucible The Bible plays an immense part in shaping characters characteristics, also in The Handmaid’s Tale it shapes one of the main motifs of the story. Throughout the two books, flowers are a meaningful symbol which is compared to a real relationshipRead MoreEssay Prompts4057 Words   |  17 PagesMrs. Dalloway Bleak House Native Son Bless Me,Ultima One Hundred Years of Solitude Catch-22 Othello Crime and Punishment The Scarlet Letter The Crucible Slaughterhouse-Five A Farewell to Arms Song of Solomon Ghosts The Stone Angel The Great Gatsby The Stranger Heart of Darkness A Tale of Two Cities The House of Mirth Their Eyes Were Watching God Jude the Obscure 2003 (Form A): According to critic Northrop Frye, â€Å"Tragic heroes are so much theRead MoreBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 Pageschoose from the below list. Tan, Amy, The Joy Luck Club Lahiri, Jhumpa, The Namesake Dickens, Charles, Great Expectations Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer, Heat and Dust Winch, Tara June, Swallow the Air Gaita, Raimond, Romulus, My Father Miller, Arthur, The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts Harrison, Jane, Rainbow’s End Luhrmann, Baz, Strictly Ballroom - film De Heer, Rolf, Ten Canoes - film Shakespeare, William, As You Like It Skrzynecki, Peter, Immigrant Chronicle Dickinson, Emily, Selected Poems of Emily DicksinsonRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 Pages1937, she was the sole provider for both her mother and the children of her now deceased sister. It was at this point that she embarked on her long career as a civil servant, an endeavor that would occupy her for the next decade and a half and the crucible out of which would come the influential nature writing of her later life. Producing publications for the Bureau of Fisheries and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Ca rson increased her already considerable expertise in biology and honed